Bobde swims over troubled waters

His left leg is a stump, amputated below the knee after an accident in Delhi seven years ago. Although he wears an artificial leg, he takes it off when he has to swim.

He took up swimming as a serious sport only three years ago and today he has set the record straight in the section for the handicapped.

“I hold one of the state records in the 50 metre event,” Bobde smiles.This was his first year at the inter-collegiate level. And he has already given proof of the impact he wants to make. He finished fifth in the 50 metre event. “It is the sense ofparticipation that brings me here. Of course, I too would like to win. But the very thought of participating in the meet gives me more joy,” he says.

From the Mont Fort School in Delhi’s Ashok Vihar, Bobde still recalls the time when he lost a leg in 1991. Hit by a truck, he was condemned to watch from the sidelines. But he had other plans.

He was not contend being a spectator. Told by doctors to swim as exercise, he decided to do better. “It all seems like a dream now.”

“I’m as normal as anybody else. I can swim, play table tennis, drive a car and ride a motor bike. The only time I differ from the rest is when they run.”

“I have a long way to go. People like me have to get rid of the mental handicap. Once that is done, there can be no stopping us,” says Bobde as he kick-starts his bike to head home.